da heads bet： A superb exhibition of swing bowling on a blameless pitch, reduced Warwickshire to 16-6 wickets off 15 overs
Gordon Child04-Jul-2002A superb exhibition of swing bowling on a blameless pitch, reduced Warwickshire to 16-6 wickets off 15 overs. The catalyst to this collapse was the smart run out of Mohamed Sheikh, off a mis-field, by Chris Brown.Cornwall’s Justin Stephens (2-23 off 10 overs) and Devon’s Ian Bishop (3-13 off 10 overs) did the early damage. Chris Brown and Martyn Dobson followed up with 20 overs of immaculate offspin to keep the pressure on the lower order batsmen.A couple of chances went begging as Nick Warren (64 not out) batted resolutely to save the situation. Even so, at 81-9 it looked all over, but a last wicket stand between Tom Mees and Warren added 51 in 16 overs, before Warren was run out for 20 in the 48th over.A target of 133 should have been comfortable, but it was not to be. Fine seam bowling from Mohamed Sheikh and Tom Mees reduced the Minor Counties to 56-6.Richard Howitt produced a magnificent innings and turned the game on its head in an 8th wicket stand of 49 with Justin Stephens, before Howitt was bowled for 69 with 4 runs still required. In tense finish, Stephens batted admirably to hit the winning runs with just three balls to spare.